1 Issue Number 10 2013 Volume 3GPP Mov ie The online magazine for players, members and supporters of Darlington Cricket Club WHAT’S IN A NAME? Chris West asks clubs to rebrand their 15/15 teams Darlington Daredevils, Marske Marauders, Sedgefield Clubs competing in this year's Teesside University NYSD Fifteens compe- Scorchers ???? titions are being offered the opportunity to 'brand' their teams with their own distinctive names if they so wish, this to mirror the situation in the first The choice is yours - so please ensure your return is made to the GS by the club by the deadline of the 24th -class game and provide an additional 'dash' of colour and interest to the February. Nil returns are also required (ie confirmation competition as well as possibly opening up one or two commercial oppor- that you do not want to use an additional moniker). tunities. PS - nothing lewd or rude!!! The nomination of a playing name needs to be with the League General How about The Quakers? Secretary by the 24th February so that it can be included in the 2013 handbook and other literature - accordingly clubs are asked to submit their choice/s within that timescale. All a club's senior teams will carry the same The resident artist managed to capture this in depth name, although a different name can be chosen for the club's junior team discussion taking place at the club between Shaughn if so desired, which would allow younger playing members to have a full and Doug. Perhaps they were thinking of a name for the input into the decision. Darlington sides! Beginning of a golden era An article found from the Northern echo of January 2013 2 THE weather is not yet right for cricket, but this rare picture of Darlington Cricket Club takes us back to the days of blazers, moustaches, trilbies and walking canes. It is believed to have been taken in 1920, the start of the club’s golden decade: it had managed to escape its debts wracked up during the First World War and during the 1920s, its first and second teams won 14 trophies in seven years. If the picture, which is among a collection which, until recently, has been in private hands, is from 1920, it was taken when the first team had won the North Yorkshire and South Durham A Division and the second 11 had become champions of the B Division. The picture is amid a collection of yearbooks currently with antiquarian bookseller Jeremiah Vokes, in Dar- lington. It was taken, with the 1883 pavilion in the background, at Feethams, the ground the cricketers shared with Darlington Football Club. However, both football and cricket clubs ceased playing during the First World War, and a new sporting force emerged: Darlington Forge Albion. The Forge on Albert Hill had a good war. It employed more than 1,300 strapping men – the second biggest employer in town after the railways – who built heavy munitions. In 1917, the Forge’s local league football team, managed by the landlord of the Forge Tavern, JB Haw, moved onto vacant Feethams for its kickabouts. Late in 1918, with the war over, there were moves to restart a football league in the North-East. Sunder- land, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, South Shields, Scotswood, Durham City and then Hartlepools United were all interested, but the Darlington club – founded in 1883 – was so deeply in debt that it couldn’t be resurrected. So, at the last moment, Mr Haw allowed Darlington Forge Albion’s name to go forward as the eighth team, and the newly-formed Northern Victory League kicked off in January 1919. Haw recruited old professional players to bolster the works team, and he did up the stands – including building Feethams’ first dressing rooms. At the start of the 1919-20 season, the Forge took a step back. The club’s name reverted to Darlington FC, the Forge works side returned to the local league, and until his death in 1960, Mr Haw was regarded as the saviour of football in the town. Simultaneously, though, the Forge saved the cricket club. In January 1919, the cricketers were £500 in debt. They’d managed to raise £230 off their own bat before the Forge Albion bowled in with a generous £500, which it paid for the “goodwill of football on Feethams”. It can be no coincidence that the new president of the cricket club was Sir Thomas Putnam, managing di- rector of Darlington Forge – he is probably in the centre of the picture, in the grey overcoat and the curved handle walking stick. Sir Thomas, a racehorse owner, had taken over the management of the Forge on his father’s death in 1897. He was at the helm when it built the enormous sternframe and rudder for the Titanic in 1911, and he remained in charge until the Forge was mothballed in 1932 and nationalised by the English Steel Corporation. Who else is with him on the 1920 picture? Continued on page 3 3 Archive story continued from page 2 Somewhere must be Dick Healey, club captain during the golden age and a “nearly ag- gressive” batsman. He shared the run-getting with Jake Dobson, a Darlington Grammar School old boy turned NCB colliery manager. Harry Moon, another colliery manager, was the opening bat – he was put at the top of the order because any lower, he became so nervous that he got stranded in the toilet. Perhaps that’s why his style was known as “poetry of motion”. There was Wilf Burnip, the manager of Barclays bank on High Row who batted in a flat cloth cap, and Sidney “Slogger” Smith, from the Midland Bank. His explosive batting made up for Percy “Stonewall” Bar- low whose style was described as “tedious to the point of distraction”. The wicketkeeper was a professional, Joseph Coates, as was the opening bowler Stanley Crozier. Other notable bowlers included Ashley Goodrick, a left-armer who specialised in the “late-swinging toe-trapper”, and leg spinner Tiddler Bates. The story and photograph were from the Northern Echo archive of January 2013. 4 IN 1991 THE WEST INDIES PLAYED AT FEETHAMS. Have a look at this photograph....how many players can you identify? Art and Sport Darlington and The Riverside, two premier grounds in the north east captured by Tim Dobson in watercol- our. 5 Score Teams Year In recent years the development of improvised shots such as the reverse sweep, switch hit, 349-6Guisborough v Saltburn1906 ramp shot and the helicopter, scores in ODI matches have gradually crept upwards. 331-3Redcar v Darlington1992 Could we be beginning to see an increase in 328-4Redcar v Northallerton1990 higher scores at NYSD league level? On the left is a record of scores of o300 or 323-6Norton v Guisborough1903 more in the league to date. 323-7West Hartlepool v Redcar1910 Darlington have managed this feat three time and been on the receiving end once! 315-7West Hartlepool v Saltburn1934 The Dil Scoop 313-6Darlington v Stockton1932 The Dil Scoop as per- formed by its inventor, 313-7Redcar v Saltburn1908 Tillerkaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka! 312-6Bishop Auckland v Thornaby1906 Beware though as it does not always come 310-2Darlington v Middlesbrough1905 off and injuries do hap- pen! 310-5Redcar v West Hartlepool1920 308Norton v Guisborough1924 Pictured below, our own Matty Wheeler 306-4Guisborough v Redcar1905 with his own ver- sion of the one 305-5Middlesbrough v North Ormesby1906 handed windmill shot known as the 305-6Middlesbrough v Stockton1978 “Wheeler Wind- mill!” 303-5Stockton v Normanby Hall1925 They’ll all be play- That Hurt! ing it in 2013! 302-6West Hartlepool v Guisborough1928 301-5West Hartlepool v Thornaby1913 300-6Blackhall v Bishop Auckland1933 300-6Darlington v Thornaby1906 300-8Normanby Hall v Guisborough1924 300-9Guisborough v Norton1911 The Wheeler Windmill Playing Record of each Club in the 'A' Division / N.Y.S.D. LEAGUE 1893-2012 6 Club Played Won Lost Drawn Points Barnard Castle 52 14 16 22 544 Billingham Synthonia 1630 377 625 627 7018 Bishop Auckland 2318 793 618 907 13065 Blackhall 1848 459 636 753 9984 Constable Burton 36 13 8 15 5 Darlington 2610 982 488 1140 14393 Darlington RA 2124 494 793 837 9055 Great Ayton 254 76 52 126 2815 Guisborough 2624 923 672 1022 14650 Hartlepool 1198 376 274 549 12164 Ironopolis 36 4 24 6 -20 Marske 1124 294 316 514 10793 Marton 202 75 34 85 2394 Middlesbrough 2574 843 624 1105 14070 Normanby Hall 2240 767 663 909 12390 North Ormesby 330 79 160 91 189 Northallerton 1164 299 333 532 10520 Norton 2214 715 630 869 8664 Preston 40 5 28 7 22 Redcar 2516 780 793 943 11171 Richmondshire 450 106 135 213 4636 Richmondshre 26 10 0 16 371 Saltburn 2262 587 839 835 10974 Sedgefield 26 4 5 17 227 Stockton 2272 667 743 863 8791 Stokesley 78 25 18 35 939 Summersons 22 4 14 4 16 Thirsk 52 14 30 8 -16 Thornaby 2428 625 900 903 9848 West Hartlepool 1368 555 355 458 1943 Wolviston 26 2 16 8 141 Yarm 40 7 23 10 31 COUNTY APPOINTMENT Congratulations to Richard Dowson on being promoted to Chief Operating Officer for Durham CCC. Richard is a long standing member of Richmondshire CC and a good friend and supporter of all things NYSD. He has a momentous year in front of him at Durham but his experience as operations directopr will stand him in good stead for the challenges ahead and we all wish him the very best in his new role C WEST (NYSD play cricket site) .